Talon Durla



Talon Durla, 49 BBY - 50 ABY, was a male Human Force sensitive who served in the navies of the Galactic Republic and the Galactic Empire. He was one of the original twelve Grand Admirals, and the first appointed, named to the rank in 7 BBY, three years before the other eleven.

Background
Durla served as Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy from 19 BBY to 4 ABY. He later became the only grand admiral to survive the downfall of the Empire. A veteran of the Clone Wars, he was recognized during the Imperial era as the singularly most powerful naval officer in galactic history. Likewise, he earned himself a reputation as a brilliant and ruthless fleet commander, and became one of the most feared names in the Empire's service. He is considered to have been the prime architect of the vast expansion and modernization of the Imperial Navy, and it's rise to become the largest and most powerful navy in galactic history.

Durla was also secretly a Dark Side Adept - one of the most powerful in the Emperor's service - and believed to be one of the strongest in history. Since his youth, Durla had secretly been a follower of dark side traditions, whose family's vast wealth enabled him to indulge his studies of the Force on his own terms. Despite this, his considerable Force sensitivity gifted him a formidable grasp of the dark side outside of Sith tradition. He never spoke of his skill to anyone, not even his wife or parents, but his own considerable talent at hiding his affinity for the Force from others is part of what drew the interest of Darth Sidious.

Durla maintained the public facade of a senior naval officer who led through strength, intimidation, and ice cold logic. He was often described as ambitious, ruthless, and implacable, yet utterly loyal to the Emperor. Over a century after his death, Durla's legacy as one of the Empire's most formidable tacticians remains intact, though historians never found out that his knack for brilliant military maneuver and his ability to deftly play the political games of the Imperial Court while somehow managing to stay largely aloof was as much thanks to his skill with the Force as his considerable intelligence.

Physically, Durla stood 1.96 meters tall and was a powerfully muscular 107 kilograms. His hair was jet black and his eyes were a yellowish-green, originally very dark brown. His left arm from the elbow down was crushed in a shipboard accident during the Battle Christophsis, and replaced with a mechano-arm by military surgeons. He always wore a black leather gauntlet over the hand, keeping its cuff inside the sleeve of his uniform tunic.

Pre-Imperial Years
Durla was born on Coruscant in 49 BBY, a scion of one of wealthiest and most powerful aristocratic families in the Core. He was an only child. In 44 BBY, when he was five years old, his family refused to permit the Jedi to take him for training, due to their mistrust of the order. When the Order expressed concern about allowing a Force-sensitive child to grow up untrained, the family approached Supreme Chancellor Kalpana, and received a dispensation exempting young Talon from being taken for Jedi training.

Serving as a young but prominent commodore in the Republic Navy during the Clone Wars, Durla drew the attention of then-Supreme Chancellor Palpatine after his handling of a tense situation involving a team of Jedi Padawans who were investigating a theft of Jedi artifacts. He had two Force-sensitive Twi'leks swept away by Republic security before the Jedi could question them, and was later promoted to vice admiral and assigned by the Chancellor to accompany the Padawans as they traveled to the Outer Rim world of Auberjonsis to investigate rumors of a Separatist presence. There, the Padawans encountered Separatist leader General Grievous, and engaged Separatist battle droids. A battle squadron summoned by Durla arrived in time to turn the battle, and the group eventually returned to Coruscant.

On the capital, Durla was summoned before the Jedi Council to explain the events on Auberjonsis, where he obfuscated details in his answers to questions put before him by Mace Windu and Plo Koon. He was dismissed by the masters, who later admitted to the Padawans they wanted to more deeply investigate the young admiral, but similarly admitted they couldn't, as his closeness to Republic leadership, his family's wealth and their considerable influence, meant to dig into his background would likely provoke the Chancellor. The Padawans commented to the masters on their having noticed the apparent familiarity that Durla shared with Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.

While the Padawans were sent off to investigate another lead in their pursuit of the artifacts thief in the Palarma system, Durla was called into private conference with Palpatine, who had come to increasingly trust in his judgment and loyalty. He was quietly brought into the Supreme Chancellor's conspiracy, and the Chancellor began to quietly train him in the ways of the Sith, building upon the admirals' already considerable dark side studies. He took to his instruction well, ravenously absorbing everything Palpatine taught him. He developed a formidable skill with both single and double-bladed lightsabers, and grew into a deadly duelist.

Rise of the Empire
After the declaration of Empire was made, Durla was made a moff and placed in charge of the admiralty, where he transmitted the following message to every vessel in the Republic Navy -

"This is Admiral Talon Durla, speaking from Coruscant with a Priority One communication to all Republican naval units. Due to an attempted Jedi revolt against the Senate and Supreme Chancellor, emergency contingencies designed to contain and neutralize this threat have been activated.  As a result, the capital is currently under lockdown and will remain so until further notice.  All units will remain at their current, assigned stations and remain under present orders until further notice or unless otherwise instructed.  Any emergency situation requiring the immediate attention of command is to be sent via secure priority channels.  Further information will be forthcoming.  End communication."

Imperial Years
After the collapse of the Separatist movement, the end of the Clone Wars, and the rise of the Empire, Durla quickly purged the naval command and began reshaping it into a force designed to spread the Emperor's glory and the primacy of the Empire galaxy-wide. While not as outright vicious as his compatriot, Vader, he was nevertheless ruthless in his application of naval modernization and expansion. He brooked no insubordination, and tolerated no dissent, and as the years went on, his iron grip on the Navy only tightened. He personally oversaw several of the Empire's conquests, notably the brutal annexation of Kashyyyk and the suppression of the Yevetha. Despite his formidable reputation and fearsome presence, he was highly respected by his fellow admirals, who saw his implacable logic and cold efficiency as pluses to the Navy's growing primacy. Of all the members of the Twelve, Durla was the sole grand admiral who obeyed only the commands of the Emperor; not even Vader or the Advisors could command him.

During the Imperial years, he and Darth Vader would spar on occasion to keep up their skills. Despite his considerable power, he was one of the very few in Imperial service that the Emperor maintained total confidence in, as Durla remained absolutely loyal to him. Similarly, while he was one of the only actual friends Darth Vader had, he maintained a careful distance from the Dark Lord's own schemes, even outwitting two separate challenges Vader created made to see how easy it would be to remove the grand admiral, who was known as one of the Emperor’s perennial favorites. Both times, he outplayed the Dark Lord and Vader suffered painful rebukes from the Emperor.

Durla died in 50 ABY, aged 100 years, at his secluded fortress on the Wild Space world of Zonju V. At his passing, he left behind a small enclave of Dark Side Adepts known as the Dark Sigil. He also left behind a sizable trove of Sith and Jedi artifacts, which he had spirited away from Coruscant after the fall of the Empire, acting on secret orders left to him by the Emperor in the event of his death. These artifacts, as well as leadership over the Disciples, he left entrusted to his grandson Janus, who was his sole living descendant.

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